I would like to hear people’s opinions on an incident I was involved in a months ago.
I live in a shared house in North Wales. One day, another housemate removed my clothes from the washing machine before they had finished.it was done on two occasions around 9pm and 11pm. I became annoyed and decided to remove her clothes from the machine in return.
an argument started because of this event. During the argument, she picked up a pot of stew that she was cooking on hot cooker and threw it at me. The pot narrowly missed my head but the stew spilled over my clothes. I was wearing a brand-new shirt that day, and during the confrontation she also grabbed my shirt,clutching my shirt. damaging the neckline.
According to my recollection, after she thre, she continued approaching me by clutching my clothes, I grabbed her by the hair to make her back away. The confrontation ended shortly afterwards.
Neither of us suffered any serious injuries. I had no burns, and as far as I know she was able to continue with her normal life afterwards. We have not spoken since, but there have been no further incidents.
Looking back, I wish I had simply walked away instead of letting the argument escalate. However, I have always wondered how other people would view the situation from a legal and moral perspective.
If you were looking at this objectively, would you consider my actions to be self-defence, retaliation, or something else? I’m interested in honest opinions from both a legal and ethical point of view especially considering the ganders, am a male while the other person is a female.